Obama sees climate deal in Copenhagen: White House

U.S. President Barack Obama visits a Northern Virginia Home Depot to discuss home improvements and energy savings in Alexandria, Virginia December 15, 2009.
REUTERS/Larry Downing

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama is confident of securing a climate change deal at a U.N. summit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that he will attend later this week, the White House said on Tuesday.

"The president believes that we can get ... an operational agreement that makes sense in Copenhagen, over the next few days," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a briefing.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in an International Herald Tribune opinion piece on Tuesday that success in Copenhagen demanded that all major economies take decisive action and agree to a system that is transparent and trusted.

"The president believes that to get an agreement that is truly operational, that we have to have that -- that transparency. That's one of the things that he'll work on as we go forward," Gibbs said.

World leaders are meeting in the Danish capital to try to agree on a deal to curb climate change. Obama, who joins the summit on Friday, has talked with his British, French and German counterparts before his arrival, Gibbs said.

"The president reviewed efforts by the United States on climate change, reiterated his commitment to making progress toward a successful conclusion of an operational agreement in Copenhagen," Gibbs said.

"All committed to working together. And obviously, they will be all getting together in the coming days," he added.

(Reporting by Alister Bull; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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